IBF Super Bantamweight Champion Jose Pedraza, who is getting ready for his upcoming fight against Gervonta Davis, told Fightful.com that he is moving up in weight.
Before the James DeGale vs. Badou Jack press conference in New York City began, Pedraza said a move to lightweight had been in the works since last spring, but wanted to have this fight with Davis before leaving the 130-pound division.
"After this fight, I'm definitely moving up in weight," Pedraza said. "Since my last fight in April, I was making plans to move up, but this great opportunity showed up and I had to take. But yeah, I'm making the jump [to lightweight]. For sure, this is my last fight at 130 pounds."
Pedraza's reasoning for the jump is that he couldn't simply get the title unification he wanted to. Pedraza had been the IBF world champion since June 2015.
"I've been trying to get a unification fight here [at super featherweight], but it just didn't happen," Pedraza said. "The plan is for me to move up to 135 pounds, win a world title, and then have a unification fight."
The current world champions at lightweight for the four main governing bodies of the sport are Terry Flanagan (WBO), Robert Easter Jr. (IBF), Jorge Linares (WBA) and Dejan Zlaticanin (WBC). Fightful will have complete coverage of DeGale vs. Jack on January 14.
